Chapter 4

John's POV

John woke up in confusion. He could remember nothing passed the moment where he fell asleep in the water, in the arms of those women. He opened his eyes and was almost blinded. The light in this place was intense. It almost made John's eyes water. When his eyes got used to the light, John jumped up. Where was he? He looked around. It seemed he was in some kind of small building. People ran around in a hurry, grabbing stuff from various surfaces. One guy picked up... Was that a sword? No one even acknowledged that he had got up, kind of like he didn't exist. Well, John was just fine with that. He was used to being ignored on the streets. How could he even have gotten here anyway? Maybe those water-women brought him here? Just then John heard a voice behind him.

"Hey! Your awake!"

John turned to face the smiling young blond haired guy who was dressed like a doctor. John didn't know what to think of him but decided to ask some important questions. "Who are you? And where am I?"

"How about you tell me who you are first?" The boy's smile grew.

"Umm... No. I asked you first. What tells me that I can trust you?" It came out a lot more rude than John had anticipated but it was a necessary question.

The boy's smile never wavered. It looked almost like one of those ever-grinning life sized dolls that you see in shop windows. They had always freaked John out. The boy answered John's question though, which he appreciated.

"Fine. Have it your way. I'm Will Solace. Former counselor of cabin 7, which is where you are now. I'm also the son of Apollo. Now, who are you?" The boy, Will, said this with his regular smile, which led John to believe that he wasn't lying. But what did he mean, son of Apollo? Wasn't that one of those Greek god thingies?

John asked another question. "Cabin 7 of what? An what do you mean 'Apollo?'"

"Well, I'll explain everything to you once you tell me who you are." Jeez, this Will person was starting to get on John's nerves.

John decided to lie. "I'm Bob. Bob Smith."

Will wasn't fooled. "Bob Smith? What kind of alias is that? Please tell me the truth."

Apparently this guy had seen through John's lie. This time he decided to tell the truth. What could Will do to him anyway? He just looked like a harmless doctor. "I'm John Bowey. Orphan. Got carried here on a flying horse and some water-women." John thought that Will wouldn't believe him anyway. Who would? His story was unbelievable, but Will looked like he wasn't surprised at all.

"Thank you, John. Now you want to know what's going on here? Well, ever heard of the Greek gods? And all of those other Greek myths?"

John nodded. He had heard of them, but what did they have to do with these circumstances? He had no idea what Will was going to say next but he definitely didn't expect what he did say.

"They're true."

"What now?" This guy was surely pulling on his leg.

"I'm telling you, they're true. That flying horse that you saw? That's a pegasus. Those women in the water? Naiads. You're living in a world of myths! And you are part of it."

"How do you know that?" Surprisingly enough, John believed this complete stranger. The stuff about the Greek myths being real? That actually made sense! John had seen so many weird stuff happen that he couldn't explain. He had seen small groups of tall people walking down the sidewalk and when John looked at their face, he could only see a single eye. Or what about those dogs from earlier? They definitely couldn't be explained any way else.

Will answered John's question. "Well, since you managed to pass through the magical border-"

"You guys have magic?" John was in awe.

"Of course! We use it for all sorts of stuff! It's very useful."

"I'm sure, but seriously, what is this place?" John decided to ask the question that had been bothering him the most.

"This place is a camp for people like you."

"People like me?" John didn't know exactly what he meant. "Like... As in orphans?"

"No, no, no." Will shook his head. "People like Demigods!"

John had no idea what a 'Demigod' was. "Umm... Should I know what that is?"

"No, I suppose not. It's a child of the gods."

"But how does that work? I had a perfectly normal mother..." John trailed off in thoughts of his mom.

"Sorry. I mean only one of your parents is a god. The other one is a mortal so that must be your mom. Your other parent must have been some god. Probably a minor one, since you've been living on the streets so long and are still alive."

"So that makes me...?"

"A Demigod! Now let's get you some chow. You look hungry."

Will was right. John hadn't eaten anything but that hot dog all day. He thought it was time for him to get a decent meal even though he still had some questions. Well, all in good time, right? John would ask Will during their meal.

-=={o}==-

Jackson's POV - The Next Morning

Surprisingly, Jackson had a dreamless night which was pretty rare in the demigod community, but it was rudely interrupted by the alarm clock on his nightstand. Jackson sat up drowsily. Ughh... Did I really leave my alarm on AGAIN! He thought. He had meant to turn it off because he had no early morning classes today and wanted to sleep in, especially after a long night of packing essentials. Surprisingly, the Hephaestus cabin was empty. It seemed that all of his siblings had something else to do, probably in the forges. Jackson turned off his clock, stood up, stretched, and prepared for another long day of training. It was more important then ever to keep in shape since he was leaving on his first quest soon.

As he got dressed, he wondered what it would be like. Would there be monsters around every corner, like in all of Percy Jackson's adventures, or would it be a long, uneventful plane ride to Mt. Tamalpais and back. Jackson was kinda hoping for the first option. There hadn't really been that many quests being offered lately, or at least not as much as there had been during the Titan and Giant wars. Both the monsters and the gods had started to quiet down more. Mind you, they weren't gone completely. There was still the occasional visit from either, but still, not as much as there used to be and it was never anything major.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Jackson managed to say through a mouth full of toothpaste.

Jackson heard the door open and was surprised to see Will Solace of the Apollo cabin standing just outside. That kid that the Naiads had brought in yesterday stood next to him. John Bowey, Jackson remembered.

"Hey Jackson, bad timing?" Will said when he noticed Jackson in the bathroom.

"Nah." Jackson put down the toothbrush and spit all of the toothpaste into the sink. After gargling a handful of water, he went and stood in front of Will. "How are you, Will? John?"

John didn't say anything and Will just smiled. "I'm good. I was just wondering if you would like to show John around camp. The basics, you know? Maybe teach him a bit of swordplay."

"Does he know about..." Jackson gestured to everything around him.

John finally spoke. "Yeah, Will told me about all of the Greek Gods and stuff. It's crazy! I'm still not sure if I believe it."

"Well you better get used to it kid." Jackson smiled. "You're living in a world of myths. Let's go."

Just as Jackson and John were about to leave, Will touched Jackson's shoulder and whispered to him. "Try and find out who his godly parent is okay? We've still no idea, except that it's his dad."

"Sure thing Will. See you later."

-=={o}==-

"So, what do you think?" Jackson had just finished giving John the tour. As far as Jackson knew, John had seemed to enjoy it. He was taking the news of being a demigod pretty well, although it was kinda hard to tell with John. He seemed a little shy and well... Wimpy. He hadn't wanted to try much of anything when Jackson offered and made up lame excuses when asked why. Not the climbing wall, or the pegasi, or even the canoeing. Jackson couldn't really blame him though. He had just learned that his missing father was actually a 3,000 year old magical god. And speaking of gods, Jackson still had no idea who John's godly parent was.

Now they stood in front of the arena, Jackson's favorite part of camp. " Uh... It was okay." John still seemed nervous in his new environment.

Jackson grinned. "Just okay? I would have said it was pretty amazing!"

"Well, okay. Yeah, I guess it was pretty amazing." John admitted.

"There we go! That's the spirit. Now how about we go into the arena, you'll love it!"

"Well, umm..." John would have finished his sentence with a "maybe next time," but Jackson had grabbed his arm and started gently leading him into the arena, forcing John to follow.

The arena was empty, just as Jackson had hoped. It gave them more privacy and he thought John would be more likely to preform well with less distraction from an audience. He led John towards the sword fighting part of the arena, then gestured to the rack of swords. "Well, John, which one do you want?"

He picked up a celestial bronze sword from the rack. Medium length. "Like to keep?" John seemed surprised.

"Of course!" Jackson explained. "You're a demigod! How do you think you have to defend yourself from all of the monsters?"

"You know, I've been surviving well enough without a weapon so..."

Jackson cut him off. "Okay, what you first want to do is stand about three feet in front of me."

John obeyed, but still looked like he didn't want to be doing this.

"Good. Now spread you're legs a bit further apart. Yes. That's it! Hold your sword up in front of your chest..." And the lesson began.